After
seeing 20 minutes of the GotG movie
in 3D – and in anticipation of seeing the full movie in late August – I went
back and reread the first seven issues of the “Marvel Now!” relaunch (which I
first read last year) and then all the other GotG comics I’ve been religiously buying each month but not
reading...till now.

And I
have to say that while I liked 0.1 and Tomorrow’s
Avengers, the main series has left a sour taste in my mouth.

The
problem is that Marvel has positioned GotG
as one of its major titles – along with Avengers,
X-Men, etc. While this is cool and means they’re taking the series
seriously (we probably could have guessed that by them getting Bendis on board
as the writer), it also leads to the same problem the other main titles have.
Which is...whenever there’s a major crossover event (of which there are
seemingly 2-3 a year now), these titles get sucked into them. If you don’t buy
every issue connected with the crossover event in question, then you don’t
understand what the frig is going on. This is what’s happening when I read all
these GotG issues back to back.

After a
solid seven-issue start introducing the Guardians, new members Iron Man (what a
blatant attempt to get the series off to a flying start, but that’s another
story) and the universally displaced Angela (of Neil Gaiman and Spawn fame), we cop two issues of the Infinity crossover (#8-9), then parts
one, four and six of “The Trial Of Jean Grey” (#11-13). As I didn’t get Infinity and I don’t read X-Men, much of this run makes no sense.
Overall, I have a feeling of frustration reading GotG. How the hell will they collect
these issues into a coherent run of TPBs? Ack – great art by a range of artists
and fun dialogue from Bendis isn’t enough to salvage this series. So...why am I
still buying it?

Finally,
this series hits its stride due to the fact it isn’t being kicked about by
stupid crossover events. This is a solid four-issue arc where the Guardians are
all individually captured and put on trial for their “crimes”. How they escape
and come to each other’s aid is rollicking old-fashioned sci-fi fun, kinda like
the movie. Which is why I rate this arc so highly and hope that it augurs well
for the future.

A
fluffy tale of Rocket Raccoon and Groot being loveable rogues kicks off this
one-shot. It’s okay but forgettable. The back-up yarn is an early appearance of
Drax and it’s godawful. Like DUD awful. Marvel in the 80s was really shit.

I didn’t
follow the rest of this unique miniseries, but I thought the GotG one-shot was
a hoot. I loved the fact that Rocket had morphed into a Donald Duck-type
character with three nephews (ala Huey, Dewey and Louie). Maybe Marvel and
Disney are trying to create further synergy here.

23.-24. Rocket
Raccoon #1-2 (Marvel, 2014) ****

Writer/artist:
Scottie Young

25.-26. Legendary
Starlord #1-2 (Marvel, 2014) ****

Writer:
Sam Humphries/Artists: Paco Medina & Juan Vlasco

Finally,
someone is doing these GotG characters REAL justice. Both these series are
lotsa fun. Starlord has a step-sister and she’s a bad-ass alien? Rocket has a
bunch of jilted exes who want to kill him dead (and an evil doppelganger)? This
stuff is seriously awesome!

27.-29. Star-Lord:
Worlds On The Brink (Marvel, 2014) **

-
originally published in Marvel Preview
#14-15, Marvel Super Special #10
(Marvel, 1978-79)

The
comics adaptation of Gaiman’s critical and commercial hit novel gets off to a
cracking start. An easy read and Fabry’s art is delightful. I’m definitely
buying the rest of this.

37. Snowpiercer Vol. 1 (Titan, 1984, 2014)
***½

Writer: Jacques Lob/Artist: Jean-Marc Rochette

What
inspired the movie. Pretty good, but I don’t need to read Vol. 2.

38. The
Originals (Vertigo, 2004) ***½

Writer/artist:
Dave Gibbons

Was
this really published 10 years ago? My, how time flies. I liked this
retro/future remake of Quadrophenia.
Great art, snappy fashions, kinda pedestrian storyline. Then again, Gibbons is
an artist, not a writer. Still, I don’t know why he set essentially a 60s tale
in the far future? It felt unnecessary.

An unpleasant, confusing Faust rip-off, featuring homophobic writing by Mercer. I guess he can be forgiven somewhat as he was only a dumb schoolkid at the time. It's hard to believe that Harris went on to be THE great Tony Harris of Starman fame.46. Dream
Police #4 (Image, 2014) ***½

Writer:
J. Michael Straczynski/Artist: Sid Kotian

47. Guardians
Of The Galaxy #18 (Marvel, 2014) ***

Writer:
Brian Michael Bendis/Artist: Ed McGuinness & Mark Farmer

48.-50. Two-Step
#1-3 (WildStorm, 2003-04) ***

Writer:
Warren Ellis/Artists: Amanda Conner & Jimmy Palmiotti

A
throwaway miniseries that takes SEVEN months to reach the third issue? What the
fuck, Warren Ellis?

51.-53. Reload
#1-3 (WildStorm, 2003) ***

Writer:
Warren Ellis/Artists: Paul Gulacy & Jimmy Palmiotti

Gulacy
is overrated.

54.-56. Anna
Mercury 2 #1-3 (Avatar, 2009) ***½

Writer:
Warren Ellis/Artist: Facundo Percio

Goddamn
you, Ellis. Where’s the rest of this bloody series?

57. EasMeets West #1 (Innovation, 1990) -*****

Writer:
Paul Ppower/Artist: Paul Ppower, Nestor Redondo & friends

The
worst comic ever. Ever. Ppower is an Aussie artist and noted movie storyboard artist (Top Gun, Predator, etc), but this comic is a fucking mess. Confusing plotting, bad layouts, dull writing, "heroic" characters with few redeeming qualities, muddy-as-shit colouring. Just so amateurishly bad on so many levels, especially as it came from a "professional" company. The fact that true talents like Redondo, Dave Rocketeer Stevens lent their assistance to this abortion of a series makes it even sadder.58.-63. Justice
League Beyond: Konstriction (DC, 2013) ***¾

-
originally published in Justice League Beyond Digital Chapters #1-16 (DC, 2012)

It
seems the DC series I enjoy most are the ones set in the future and removed (or
mostly removed) from current New 52 continuity. I enjoy Justice League 3000 and I’m finally getting into the Batman from Batman Beyond (who has a personality
similar to Marvel’s Spider-Man) in DC’s animated universe, now that he’s a
featured player in Future’s End. Picking
up this trade was a no-brainer as it has Batman and a bunch of JL characters
(or their children, protégés, etc). It’s set in the near future but whether it’s
in the “real” DC universe or the animated one, I couldn’t say. Anyway, I
enjoyed it a lot.

64. Heartland(Vertigo, 1997) ***½

Writer: Garth Ennis/Artist: Steve Dillon

On the back of Preacher’s success, Ennis could write anything for DC and it would get published, it seems. This slow-moving tale of love, family, selective childhood memories and betrayal in Belfast in 1994 is kinda self-indulgent, but entertaining all the same.65. Dalgoda
#1 (Fantagraphics, 1984) **¾

Writer:
Jan Strnad/Artist: Dennis Fujtake

Two
things strike me about this shaggy dog tale about canine aliens interacting with
a paranoid, aggressive mankind: 1. Jan Strnad is not a very good writer, AND 2.
$2.25 was a fucking helluva lot to pay for a comic in 1984.